Several topics were discussed at the Clayton Town Council meeting Monday night, including the approval of a subdivision plan for the St. Joe's property. Here are a few tidbits from the rest of the meeting:

Restricted water and street account created

Councilman Dave Letterman informed council that the town had received $19,000 from a gas line project going through Bassett Street.

"That's coming from the company putting it in," Letterman said. "I would like to put that in a restricted account and have it made restricted to the use of a streets, water and sewer account."

Letterman said the group requested the donation so the money can be used for raffle tickets for team fundraisers.

"I have seen from news publications, some of these civic organizations are getting kind of tight as far as what they can provide as far as little league type organizations," Letterman said. "I would like to make a motion that we grant the request to the Smyrna/Clayton Little League."

Electric upgrade to west side of town complete

Town Foreman Jeff Hurlock informed council that the electric upgrade to the west side of town is finished, but it did go over budget.

"In a couple places we ran into bad wiring while they doing were doing the work," Hurlock said. "We also ran into a few poles that were rotten that we had to replace."

When asked how much over budget the project was, Hurlock said about $35,000.

Hurlock said he wants to get with the town's Electric Committee to discuss what to do now for 2013. He said they may hold off on what was planned for 2013 and funnel the money into tree trimming, as there are trees that need to be trimmed in town.

"Town crews trim quite a few of the trees, but some trees we're just not capable so we rely on a contractor," Hurlock said. "So we need to get together and make that official."

Planning for next streets project

During the Streets Committee report, Hurlock said he'd like to start planning for next year's paving project as soon as possible. He said the reason for this is because even with planning the 2012 overlay project early for South Bassett Street, Smyrna Avenue, and Highland Avenue, the town still ran into some problems with putting down blacktop in the cold weather.

Office of Drinking Water survey

The Office of Drinking Water performed a sanitary survey of the town's drinking water the week of Christmas, Hurlock said. The survey inspected the town's water treatment facilities and town's well sites.

Page 2 of 2 - While the results of the survey showed no problems with Clayton's water, Hurlock said ODW did make a few recommendations that will eventually affect the town's budget.

The office wants the town to get hydrant locks for the town's hydrants. When Letterman asked Hurlock the point of the lock, Hurlock said the locks prevent a person from opening a hydrant and contaminating the water.

"Apparently it's something the Office of Drinking Water is going to start recommending," Hurlock said. "So once they start recommending it, at some point it'll be drafted into a regulation.

Letterman asked how much a lock cost; Hurlock said about $100, which prompted Letterman to ask how many hydrants are in the town.

"About 350, and I may be a little high," Hurlock said.

Hurlock said another issue the town has is with the pump controls of one of the well houses at the water treatment plant. The town has no control over the automated controls of one of the towers so everything is done by hand. Hurlock said the town is working to get a redundant system in the other tower, which costs about $5,000 but will pay for itself considering it will free up a town employee to do other work.

Resident concerned about vacant business

Resident Sylvia Falcòn said she's concerned with what's going on with the pizza shop in town.

Two weeks ago, Falcòn said she was washing dishes when she watched a few teens rob the pizza shop.

Letterman asked if she was talking about Lorenzo's Pizza, which he thought was closed to which Falcòn responded, "They are."

"I knew it wasn't any of the owners, even though they come late at night, but I watched them [the teens] take out the TV and the cash register," she said. "I called 911 and they caught one of the four guys but people are seeing that it's vacant. I mean they've got stuff in there but they hadn't cleaned out."

Council members said this was their first time hearing of the incident, but to talk to the police.

Falcòn said she's just concerned. One day when the owners were leaving, Falcòn said she asked if they were leaving and they said, "Oh no, we're going to be in here renovating," but she hasn't seen anybody back since.